Symbiote Imperium (Earth-616)
| Aliases = The Hive, Symbiote Hive Mind | Status = Active | Identity = Public | Universe = Earth-616 | BaseOfOperations = Mobile Symbiote Throneworld (formerly) | OrganizationLeaders = Knull | CurrentMembers = Numerous malevolent symbiotes Grendel Dreadface Zzzxx Spider-Man's Second Symbiote Symbiote Dragons | FormerMembers = Venom Carnage Tyrannosaurus Void Knight (Deceased) | Allies = Haze Mancer Church of the New Darkness Carnage | Enemies = Agents of the Cosmos Xenophages Galactus Silver Surfer Spider-Man Scarlet Spider Venom X-Men Poisons | Origin = A spacefaring empire of malevolent symbiotes. | PlaceOfFormation = Gorr's homeworld | PlaceOfDefunction = | Creators = Tom DeFalco; David Michelinie; Dave Hoover | First = (Historically) (Chronologically) | HistoryText = To facilitate his deicidal crusade, the dark god Knull created a species of amorphous symbiotic predators from the "living abyss", using them to conquer planets and consume entire civilizations; establishing an empire of darkness. Joot, one of the worlds conquered by the Symbiote Imperium, was devoured by Galactus, instilling an instinctual fear and hatred towards the cosmic entity and his herald, the Silver Surfer, within them. At one point thousands of years in the past, the Symbiote Imperium attempted to conquer the Microverse in order to assimilate the Enigma Force, hoping to become able to infest entire planets. The symbiotes' touch proved caustic to the minuscule dimension and its inhabitants, and nearly wound up destroying it and all existence; but they were repelled by the Enigma Force's avatar. Knull's control over the symbiotes was severed in a battle between one of his symbiote-dragons and Thor and the symbiotes who had bonded to noble and kind-hearted hosts eventually rebelled against him, imprisoning him at the core of the artificial planet Klyntar. Ashamed of their dark past, the symbiotes of Klyntar desired to spread and maintain peace throughout the Cosmos by seeking out worthy hosts from various species in order to create an organization of noble warriors, the Agents of the Cosmos. However, many of the symbiotes — including the one who would later become Venom — were bonded to unworthy hosts, "corrupting" them with hatred, rage, and ravenous predatory hunger. These corrupted symbiotes were exiled from the Klyntar hive-mind, which took to forcibly cleansing them and executing those who resisted. The corrupted symbiotes formed into a loosely-organized spacefaring empire and resumed infecting and conquering planets, spreading what the Klyntar hive-mind claimed was misinformation about their species. While some of the corrupted symbiotes took to overwhelming their hosts with bloodlust and corrupting them; the vast majority came to see their hosts as nothing more than chattel and developed the practice of seizing control of their bodies; parasitically draining their vitality, phenethylamine, adrenaline, and other body fluids until they expired; and devouring their flesh before seeking out new hosts to repeat the process. As a result, the corrupted symbiotes caused their species as a whole to become once-again feared as one of the galaxy's apex predators, their hosts treated with fear and mistrust. The arms dealer Haze Mancer was an unwitting ally of the Imperium, abducting uncorrupted symbiotes from Klyntar, weaponizing them with chemicals that corrupted them by amplifying their aggression and bloodlust, and selling them to space-pirates and warlords. The symbiote that would become known as "Venom" was once a member of the Imperium, having been a member of the Agents of the Cosmos before being corrupted by its original host. However, it was deemed aberrant for its desire to protect its hosts, and was imprisoned to prevent it from contaminating the Imperium with like-minded spawn. The Venom symbiote was later freed by Spider-Man, who brought it to Earth where it eventually reproduced. Despite the Venom symbiote's increasing corruption and malevolence, neither it nor its nihilistic and bloodthirsty spawn made any deliberate attempt to contact or rejoin the Symbiote Imperium. A symbiote later known as Dreadface was captured by Devos the Devastator, who contained it in order to find a way to exterminate its species. Unwittingly freed by the Fantastic Four, it attempted to conquer Earth several times but was foiled and ultimately returned to the depths of space. The Symbiote Imperium once attempted to conquer Earth before being routed by Spider-Man, his clone the Scarlet Spider, Venom, and Carnage. Most of the surviving invaders were eaten by a Xenophage; though one tried to get revenge on the "race traitor" Venom and was killed when its host, Rune, managed to break free of its control and devour it. At some point, a symbiote called Zzzxx attacked the Shi'ar Empire, but was captured and turned into a living weapon. Members of the Imperium tricked a swarm of Brood into becoming their hosts and attacked the S.W.O.R.D. space station in an attempt to lay claim to the unborn child of Deathbird while plotting to use his power to facilitate their conquest of the galaxy, but were repelled by members of the X-Men and Spider-Man. After Carnage's resurrection as a result of being bonded to the Grendel symbiote, he began hunting down previous symbiote hosts in order to extract their codices - the remnants of symbiotes in a host's body - and free Knull. He succeeded in his mission, making Venom kill him and forcibly making the Venom symbiote assimilate the Grendel symbiote and the codices, freeing Knull. Upon awakening, Knull destroyed Klyntar and merged its constituent symbiotes into a fleet of Symbiote Dragons, resuming his conquest to destroy the cosmos. | Equipment = | Transportation = The Symbiote Imperium possesses an array of technology obtained from conquered species, which they can use to construct warp gates to facilitate interstellar travel. | Weapons = While some symbiotes utilized technological weaponry appropriated from conquered species, most relied upon their fangs, claws, pseudopods, and whatever natural weaponry their hosts possess. | Notes = | Trivia = | Links = }} Category:Interplanetary Organizations Category:Empires and Civilizations Category:Knull Worship Category:Living Abyss Category:Klyntar (Symbiotes)